There
are many stories throughout this site that show Miki's kindness and
generosity, but these recollections from a long-time fan top
them all.

Andrew's Preface: Here's a brief retelling of the
instances when I met the band; and what happened to make me love
them even more, musically, and as people:

1991
March 14 - Warwick University

I was working in an indie record shop in
Coventry, and the Student Union rep from Warwick Uni was
in. Found out Lush were playing with James Taylor
Quartet that week, so managed to get tickets - having
been driving all the staff mad for a year with
"De-luxe." Arrived
at the bar at the University and lo and behold, Lush sat
in a corner with a bunch of people, and a table full of
drinks. So, I got the barman to take over a tray of
4 pints of lager which after a brief exchange with the band was
returned for a tray of... yup, 4 pints of cider. This led to a
short, drunken conversation "Cheers for the drinks, but
we only do ciiiiiiiider!" with Miki and Emma - "What's
De-luxe about?" Emma: "Er- basically, nothing"(!) -
then, cringingly (I was 19 and drunk!) asking Miki
to dedicate a song to me, which, she duly did, bless her
- Covert/De-luxe - "For my mate Andy down there,
this is dedicated to you" The friends I had gone with
who liked Lush were hardened New Model Army fans and
they said it was one of the most violent gigs they'd
been to! All 3 of us had bruises across our chests from
the barriers at the front of the stage afterward. Well
worth it though!!

Now living with family in NE Scotland, the only way to do this
gig was a 70 mile coach trip and to book a room in the
hotel - the basement
of
which the gig was in - then coach it
back in the morning. Arrived at the hotel mid-afternoon, wearing the
leather bike
jacket I'd painted the label of side 1 of "Gala" on
the back of, and "Spooky"/"Black Spring"/"For Love" stuff on the
arms. Hanging around the hotel, I somehow managed to end up in a
room of the band's, and sat with Miki, Emma, Chris and Phil. (gulp) All four of them were very kind to the elated, nigh on
catatonic/then gibbering mess I had become - Miki even took some
photos of the stuff I had painted on my jacket - I'd taken my
Spooky 10" to be signed (nicked years later) - and when they
heard the saga of my trek down to Aberdeen, somehow I ended up
on the guest list for the Liverpool gig ten days later - think
it was any gig left on the tour I could get to - For some reason
I gave Emma a wee teddy bear, (skint! yet had to do something)
and Miki a silver rope charm bracelet that was my Mums. As
goodbyes were said and I was heading back upstairs to my hotel
room, I heard someone shout my name and turning, saw Miki run
towards me. Stuffing an envelope in my jacket pocket and saying
"Now don't fucking look at this until I've gone okay" then
turning, laughing, halfway down the stairs "and I don't want it
back!" - Of course I ripped open the envelope and there was £50
note inside (which I put towards my 1st Epiphone Les Paul) At
the gig, a couple of hours later, in the club in the hotel's
basement, got to the front early (no one else there lol) and one
of the security guards started chatting, so I told him about the
afternoon's madness - and, moving the barrier aside he said
"Come and stand this side then, mate, you'll enjoy the gig more" - so I found myself stood
right at the front of the barriers, relaxing having a fag and a
pint inches from the stage during what was a blinder of a
smaller yet still packed and intense gig. They sounded amaaaaaaaaazing.

1992 February
27 - Liverpool University

Arriving at the University a short while before the gig
(on the
guest list! Ha) I bumped into Chris who was out front with a
pint watching the support band, Spitfire, soundcheck I think. We
chatted for a while about all kinds of things; how he would play
faster to try and speed the girls up on purpose, the support,
the tour, he tried football but I never followed that (he
really was the most friendly, good natured, amiable bloke). He
suggested I drop my bag off backstage (after a long train trip
from Scotland I had a huge rucksack with me), where I recall there
were many people with many margaritas; pitchers full of
margaritas as far as the eye could see, and everyone in an
ebullient mood. It transpired that everyone was all headed off
after the gig to see Levitation play later at a club called
Krazy House, I'd be welcome to tag along. Another amazing
sounding show, afterwards there was this long unruly ensemble of
Lush, Spitfire and their friends walking through Liverpool,
already pissed - Justin from Spitfire's a good laugh - en route
to this club. It was 2-for-1 on bottled beer when we got there -
by the end of the evening I recall Emma walking around with a
glass of bright orange stuff and her pulling an ugh face, saying
"fucking orange squash, they've fucking run out of fucking
orange juice" (vodkas) By then, the bar had been drunk dry of
tequila and Newquay Brown too (according to a rather vexed
barmaid) - the abiding image of the night is bottles all over
the floor, a drunken hug with Chris - before being helped out of
the unmoving cloakroom queue by Justin from Spitfire who took my
ticket and got all my stuff back in an instant (thanks for that)
before heading off to Lime St station at half 3 in the morning
to wait for the first train back up to Scotland. What a night!

1992 May 15

1992 Late Summer

After reading about Miki's stage-diving, head-splitting incident
in Texas, I waited until the end of the tour and figured she
would be back at home and sent her some flowers as a
"get-well-soon" thing. Her response:

1992 November

During
one of my regular trips to London to do Berwick St, all the
record shops, various other Record & Tape Exchanges, Tower
Records etc. I decided, somehow, madly halfway through the day,
whilst looking an Underground map, it would be a grand idea to
go up to Kensal Green and see if Miki was at home (?!) Bless
her, she was really welcoming despite being caught off guard -
sat in her kitchen had a cup of tea and a cigarette, she showed
me one of the chords in "De-luxe" I'd not been able to figure
out by ear (open 4th fret barre) "and that, I don't know what
that is" she said. Chatted for a while about Lollapolooza and
the Texas-Head-Splitting-Stagedive, was only there maybe 20
minutes; figured it was best to make my excuses and leave her in
peace. Some ideas I have seem like a good one until I carry them
out!

1994 August 26
- Reading Festival

The day of the gig Lush were signing "Split" postcards
in a tent. Unseen in the queue when I reached the table,
Miki looked up
"Bloody hell, its you!" signed my card
"Andrew in the area." Had painted the artwork for LP of
"Split" on the back of my jacket
now, which they all
noticed but as they were kinda busy signing, I didn't
hang around. During their set there were some technical
problems, it cut out during the start of "Lit Up" and
there were some real wankers in the crowd heckling. They
all 4 looked raaaaaather pissed off, understandably.
Remember being stood in front of Emma, looking up and
saying "Cheer up" - she replied "Hello" with a weak
grin. Thankfully they had no more technical problems and
it was a cracking gig, "Desire Lines" was so loud I
couldn't hear properly for days afterwards! They did
themselves proud considering the difficulties they had.

1996 January
20 - Warwick University

The four of us that were in a band, this time, went to see Lush,
unfortunately never got the chance to say hello - except to
Chris briefly, from a distance as he was en route from
backstage. They played a blinder of a show, though!